Medical Biochemistry

As one of the pioneer Departments of the School, the Department of Medical Biochemistry continues to adopt an innovative and student-centered teaching strategy to deliver the relevant biochemical content of the integrated medical curriculum run by the School of Medical Sciences. In addition, the Department has commenced drafting of a curriculum for a proposed MPhil/PhD programme in Molecular, Cellular and Metabolic Basis of Health, which will soon be forwarded to the appropriate University authority for further consideration. Meanwhile, members of the Departments continue to serve as resource persons on various outreach programmes organized by churches, student groups and others offer education on various health-related topics of public interest in line with individual faculty research interest and expertise. These outreach activities have contributed to establishing a good rapport between members of the Departments and the general public.

The Department remained very active in research in areas relating to hepatitis B, diabetes, cancer and herbal medicines resulting in a 9 (nine) publications during the last academic year. These research efforts have also either resulted in establishment research collaborations with counterparts in several institutions including the Georgia Southern University, USA, or paved the way for discussions on possible research collaboration such as that with the Sino-Danish Breast Cancer Research Centre, Denmark. Additionally, a faculty member led a team to win a research grant from the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) here at UCC, and on successfully completing the study and submitting a final report, was honoured after its presentation at the maiden Research Awards and Grants Ceremony organized by DRIC in April, 2016.